More about Olivia Shaffer

Olivia Shaffer is a Dance Artist born and based in Vancouver, Canada, located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded Coast Salish lands and waters of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) people.

Olivia is a multi-talented, dynamic, and expressive practitioner in the dance field, experienced in performing, improvising, choreographing, and teaching. She holds a BFA in contemporary dance and a Liberal Arts Certificate from the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. She is a Feldenkrais Method® practitioner, certified Awareness Through Movement® teacher, and a Pilates Mat Instructor. Since 2021, Olivia has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia, where she teaches embodied movement to students in the BFA Theatre Program.

Following her graduation from SFU in 2009, Olivia pursued continued training in Canada and abroad in disciplines including Contact Improvisation, dance improvisation, performance, theatre, and somatic movement practices. Over the past decade and a half, Olivia has worked as a freelance performer and improviser with a range of collaborators, as well as expanding her skills and practice as a choreographer. Her passion lies in the creation of embodied, evocative performance by way of crafted improvisations, aiming to highlight tensions between the tangible and the ephemeral. She has taught and performed in Europe, the US, and Asia. 

Olivia has had close ties with Peter Bingham and EDAM since 2011, when she was awarded an EDAM scholarship that gave her an intensive introduction to the world of Contact Improvisation (CI). In 2014, she decided to pursue a career in CI by becoming a member of the EDAM dance company. Her role within the company has expanded over time and she has served as Assistant to the Artistic Director and resident teacher since 2018. Olivia continuously shares her passion for CI through her popular classes and workshops at EDAM, and at other institutions where she teaches professional and community dancers alike.

Olivia is honoured, delighted, and excited to be taking on this new role as Associate Artistic Director of EDAM, named successor of Peter Bingham, and eventual Artistic Director of the company. She hopes to continue contributing to Vancouver's vibrant dance community in this position by expanding opportunities for local dance artists and preserving CI as a celebrated art form in Canada and beyond.

To learn more about Olivia:
www.oliviashaffer.ca/curriculum-vitae